Brothers Switched
by FallingSkiesxxxHalMason
Summary: What would happen if Ben was never taken by the skitters, but instead Hal was taken right after Colonel Porter split up the Masses? Would they rescue him sooner than they did Ben? Rated T since my other stories are rated T! ;-D
1. Chapter 1

**_What would happen if Ben was never taken by the skitters, but instead Hal was taken right after _**

**_Colonel Porter split up the Masses? Would they rescue him sooner than they did Ben?_**

Disclaimer: I don't own Falling Skies no matter how much I really want to!

Their mom was dead.

That was the only thought on Hal Masons mind. She would never be around to break up another fight between him and Ben. She would never be around to secretly sing him to sleep when he had a horrible nightmare. She was gone.

After they found Rebecca, Tom, Matt and Hal panicked and went to go find Ben who was at a friend's house fearing what could happen to another family member if they weren't there.

As they drew closer to his house they heard the ominous sound that they have now associated with Mechs steadily drawing closer and closer and where there were Mechs there were most certainly children stealing Skitters directing them.

Panicking the now family of three ran pell mill to the house that hopefully held the fourth.

"Ben!" Tom cried out in a stage whisper. Silence was the only thing that greeted his call.

Trying to keep the rising panic out of his voice he told Hal "Take Matt and look up stairs, I'll look down here."

"K dad. Be careful." Hal said also trying to keep panic out of his voice so as not to worry Matt any more than he already was. As Hal and Matt climbed the stairs Hal felt a bad feeling start to well up inside him.

'Something feels off.' Hal thought. When they reached the top of the stairs, Hal kept Matt behind him as they checked each and every room. When they reached the last room, Hal's bad feeling grew even larger. Not knowing what to expect Hal to Matt to go hid in one of the rooms they checked.

When Matt was no longer in sight, Hal slowly opened the door, it creaking eerily the whole way.

"Oh no Ben!" Hal exclaimed as he rushed towards his unconscious brother not noticing the Skitter hidden in the corner.

"Ben? Ben! Are you ok?"

As Hal tried repeatedly to get his brother to wake up, the Skitter slowly started to creep towards the oblivious Hal.

"Ugh, Hal? What happened?" Ben said slightly groggy.

"Uh I don't know dude. I just came in here and you were unconscious!"

"Oh man I got a headache the size of Bos.. HAL LOOK OUT!" Ben suddenly shouted.

"Wha..?" Hal started to say but then was grabbed from behind by the skitter.

"Ben… go… get…dad." Was all Hal was able to get out before the Skitter started to cut of his air supply to subdue him.

Ben ran out of the room shouting for his dad and Matt who he was sure was around somewhere.

"Ben?!" Tom cried out as he ran up the stairs.

"Dad! It grabbed him!" Ben said panicking.

"What grabbed who?" Tom asked fearing the answer.

"A Skitter! It grabbed Hal! He yelled at me to go get you!"

"Where's Hal?" Matt asked startling Tom and Ben who didn't notice him walk up.

"Ben, show me where." Tom demanded.

"This way!"

The all ran towards the room that hopefully still held Hal and the Skitter. When they opened the door they saw the Skitter and a barely struggling Hal.

Hal noticed his family come in but was slowly losing conciseness. His last thought was he hoped that his dad get Ben and Matt to safety before slipping into the never ending darkness.

To Be Continued

**Authors Note: Ok so that was my first chapter. Should I continue it? What did you think? And yes it does say he doesn't get harnessed until the split up of the masses. So does that mean Hal's dad saves him? I don't know you'll have to tell me if you want me to continue to find out! Do you have any suggestions? If you do I would love to hear them! I will try to be a constant updater. Maybe once or twice a week but that's only if you want me to continue and that's only If I can. PM me if I don't update! I might of totally forgotten to! Anyway until next time Fallers!**

**P.S. Tell me if there are any mistakes I made and stuff!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note: Ok im SOOOOOOOO sorry this is late! I meant to finish writing this and post it last Tuesday but I had Mid-Terms last week and I was trying to get my Childhood Art Activities project lesson plan typed and I had to make sure I had the materials to demonstrate the project, and I had to study for my Early Childhood Education class and type up and observation I did in a toddler classroom for Childhood Growth and Development. Yea I was busy. So I hope this meets your expectations!1 If you have any pointers, suggestions, etc. please put it in the comments or PM me!**

**Shout Outs! Here are all the people who commented on the first chapter! I will try and keep doing this unless there are like way too many and the shout out becomes longer than the story! Well here they are!:**

**DriftingCloudz, Sivix, geraldine123, SupernaturalCheetahFast, purplepidgioncommandbase, Victoria (I assume ur a guest? U should get an account so u get emails when new chapters are up!), JoyScott13, and TimeShard13. Sorry if anyone was misspelled! **

Disclaimer: Yea wish I did, but I don't own. Otherwise Hal would be getting hurt a lot more! Is that sad? Oh well here ya go my fellow Fallers!

Pain.

That was Hal's first thought as his consciousness slowly returned to him. What Happened? The last thing he remembered was seeing Ben lying on the floor unconscious.

Slowly he opened his eyes and quickly shut them again, as the brightness of day assaulted them. After minute or so he opened his eyes again and saw green surrounding him. Trees he thought. He looked around slowly and saw Ben and Matt sleeping with Matt snuggled up against Ben bringing a smile to his face. His eyes finally found his dad a few yards away with a gun in his hands keeping watch.

"Da…" Hal tried to speak but his throat was so sore he could barely speak above a whisper, but apparently that was enough because his father was by his side in a second with relief etched clearly on his face.

"Hal! Are you ok?"

He tried to speak again but realizing that he couldn't, Tom grabbed a water bottle and helped me him sit up to drink the water.

"What happened?" I rasped my throat still extremely sore.

"You were grabbed by a skitter. Don't you remember?"

"No not really. The last thing I remember is seeing Ben on the floor out cold."

"Well after Ben yelled for me we found the skitter choking you. And…"

FLASHBACK:

Tom nearly had a heart attack when he saw his eldest son fall limp in the arms of the skitter. Pure hatred and rage burned throughout his body as he charged at the skitter. Seeing him coming, the skitter flung Hal across the room. Hal hit the wall with a sickening crack echoing through the room and Tom knew the blasted skitter had caused something of Hal's to break. As Tom rams a knife he into the skitters stomach, he hopes that crack they heard wasn't Hal's neck snapping in half. The three conscience Masons , stand around the fatally wounded skitter, staring in disgust at the creature that has killed so many, as its life slowly fades away until it is no more. **(Yea I know this wasn't the best action type scene, but I'll get better! I hope!)**

"Hal!" Yelled Matt as he ran up to his oldest brother. Tom and Ben rush over to check on Hal and are relieved to find he's still breathing and that it was in fact his arm that broke and not his neck. Tom picks up his oldest carefully, so as not to hurt him anymore, and makes his way out of the house with his 2 youngest in tow to search for a good place to set up camp.

END FLASHBACK

"After we got out if the house we found this spot to set up camp and have been here since." Tom concludes.

"Well that explains why I feel like crap, why my throat feels like I drank glass, and why my arm hurts like heck." Hal whispered in an attempt to keep his throat from hurting. "How long have I been out?"

"Uhmm… about 3 or 4 hours." Tom replied.

"Oh man that skitter really did a good number on me then! We should get moving though. It's just a matter of time before were found." Hal said.

"I don't think that's such a good idea Hal." Tom said concerned. "You're still pretty weak."

"What are you talking about I'm fine!" Hal protested weakly as he tried to sit up but failed miserably.

"Uh huh. And how do you expect to walk if you can't even sit up?" Tom questioned.

Not finding a good comeback to his dad's question, Hal just folds his arms across his chest, huffing in annoyance.

"Yea that's what I thought. Now come on let sit you up so you can eat something." Tom said.

As Tom helped Hal sit up against a tree, Ben started to stir, eventually waking up fully.

"Hey dad hows.. Hal!" Ben exclaimed after seeing Hal was indeed ok.

"Not so loud math geek!" Hal said harshly as a headache was beginning to make its self known. Hal knew his brother was just worried about him, heck, he even yelled out to his brother when he found. And now that he thinks about it he was always really loud with his brother, not caring if Ben had a headache or not. Remembering the promise he made his mom to try and get along better with his brother, **(Was that part of the promise he made to his mom? I 4got and I'm too tired to watch that ep again!) **he decided to apologize to Ben when….

CRACK!

"What was that?" Said Matt, frightened.

_Huh when did he wake up?_ Hal wondered. Tom grabbed his gun and yelled at Matt and be to go stand by Hal as he stood protectively in front of his boys.

"Who's there?" Tom yelled out harshly. Another crack eerily echoed through the woods from all directions, making it impossible to pinpoint where it originated from.

Stepping out from behind 2 trees on either side of the Masons, were….

To Be Continued….

**Authors Note: Ok so do you guys hate me for the cliffy? Was it a good cliffy? Ok I know I have things to work on like quality rather than quantity, grammar, character emotions, etc. as so kindly pointed out to me in the 1****st**** chapter by DriftingCloudz. I hope that as continue to write this story I will get the feeling and flow of what I want to do. I have it all in my head, it's trying to get it down in words that the hard part! I also hope the chapters get longer as I get more comfortable writing my first chapter fic! Any way thanks for bearing with me! See ya later Fallers!**


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Note:

I know you were expecting a chapter and im sorry! I've had major writers block and my first semeseter of college and not to mention i was trying to spend as much time as i could with my bestie Sarah before she moved to California for who knows how long. Shes so indecisive! She could be back in a month or in a few years! Who knows! But i had my friend who also writes fanfiction, carinims01, read what i had written down and she gave me great suggestions for my story so i should update sometime this month! And you should probably expect infrequent updates since my second semester of college is gonna start soon and this is my first chapter fic! But what could help me is if you guys gave me any and all suggestions and creative critisicm you can! I love to see what you come up with! Anything is appreciated! But i really need suggestions! So please, please, please tell me your suggestions!

Until next time my fellow Fallers!

-FallingSkiesxxxHalMason

1/8/13


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors Note: Ok I'm SOOOOOOOO sorry this is late! AGAIN! I already explained why this chapter was late and I'm seriously sorry! So for now on I'm gonna let you know I will try to be consistent with my updating but no promises! It is my first chapter fic too so that could be part of it also. ANYWAY! So I hope this meets your expectations! If you have any pointers, suggestions, etc. please put it in the comments or PM me! Please give me suggestions! I have the story figured out in my head but your suggestions will help me put it down on paper faster which means I might be able to update more! Hint, Hint!**

**Shout Outs! Here are all the people who commented on the second chapter! I will try and keep doing this unless there are like way too many and the shout out becomes longer than the story! Well here they are!:**

JoyScott13, TimeShard13 (BTW u totally guessed right who it is!), purplepidgioncommandbase, Sivix, SupernaturalCheetahFast, DriftingCloudz, victoria (Guest), Bluestarshine, BrokenSky49, and carinims01!

Special thanks to carinims01 for reading over this chapter to make sure it was good and stuff! Thx grl!

**DISCLAIMER!: Ok if I seriously owned this don't you think something like this would of happened already?!**

**ANYWAY On with the story my faithful Fallers!**

_Previously on Brothers Switched:_

_"Not so loud math geek!" Hal said harshly as a headache was beginning to make its self known. Hal knew his brother was just worried about him, heck, he even yelled out to his brother when he found. And now that he thinks about it he was always really loud with his brother, not caring if Ben had a headache or not. Remembering the promise he made his mom to try and get along better with his brother, (Was that part of the promise he made to his mom? I 4got and I'm too tired to watch that ep again!) he decided to apologize to Ben when…._

_CRACK!_

_"What was that?" Said Matt, frightened._

_Huh when did he wake up? Hal wondered. Tom grabbed his gun and yelled at Matt and be to go stand by Hal as he stood protectively in front of his boys._

_"Who's there?" Tom yelled out harshly. Another crack eerily echoed through the woods from all directions, making it impossible to pinpoint where it originated from._

_Stepping out from behind 2 trees on either side of the Masons, were…._

2 men dressed in camouflage gear with AK 47s **(ok I seriously don't know if they use those guns or anything but that's the only gun name I know!) **in their hands. One of the men looked like he was getting up there in years with his snow white hair and wrinkling face, although with just one like the Masons know he could totally wipe the floor with them. The other man looked younger than the first, with his hair pulled back in a ponytail and a baseball cap placed firmly on his head.

"Who are you?" Tom practically growled at them.

"I'm Colonel Jim Porter and that's Captain Dan Weaver. I'm the leader of a brigade that's fighting back against the Skitters and Mechs. Weaver over here is the new head of one of the groups we call the 2nd Massachusetts or 2nd Mass for short," Porter replied.

"We have plenty of food, water and shelter for all of ya if you'd like it," Weaver stepped in.

"You got a doctor?" Tom asked hesitantly, "My oldest has a broken arm."

"Yeah, we do. We got a pediatrician turned doctor, Doctor Anne Glass. She'll look over your boy," said Weaver.

"Alright then. Matt, go pack up our stuff. Ben, you go help Hal get up," Tom told his boys.

Matt rushed around, packing the little they still owned while Ben went to go help Hal. Porter and Weaver watched from the sidelines as Hal and Ben argued about how to get Hal up.

"Watch it, math geek!"

"Well sorry! You would think Mr. Dumb Jock would be able to get up on his own!"

"Shut up, Ben!"

"Boys! Now is not the time to be arguing! There could be Skitters around!" Tom chastised.

"Sorry," they both mumbled.

Seeing as they were all set to go, Colonel Porter and Captain Weaver lead the way to where their new home will be.

1 Hour Later

After an hour of walking, and frequent rest stops for Hal considering he was still very weak from taking on a skitter, the group of tired survivors finally reached Porters brigade. As they walked towards it a woman with long dark hair and dark skin came out to greet them.

"Tom, this here is the doctor we told you about. Anne, meet Tom Mason and his boys," Weaver introduced.

"Hey, it's nice to see more survivors."

"Anne, Toms' oldest boy here, Hal, needs to be looked at; seems he went through a pretty big fight."

"What happened to you?" Anne questioned.

"Went to go find my brother who was a friend's house; found him but he was unconscious because of a Skitter but didn't know that at first. Woke him up then, the Skitter grabbed me, tried to strangle me to death and then apparently got thrown into a wall by the stupid thing."

"Wow, quite a story you got there. Come on take him over there and lay him on that bed over there." Anne directed Ben.

Anne wrapped Hal's arm up in the best cast she could do considering aliens kinda took over the world and checked to make sure that there were no other injuries and, other than a huge bruise on the side of his head from being thrown into the wall, Hal was going to be ok. For now.

2 Months Later** (Ok yea I know that's annoying but I couldn't think of where else to go with that current area in time! Sorry!)**

2 months.

It had been 2 months since the Mason's had run into Porter and Weaver and Porter's group of survivors had grown larger and larger. Hal's hand had healed up and was completely functional again.

Hal decided right after he got his cast off to become a fighter for the Weavers group the 2nd Mass and not too long after that Ben decided to join him in the fight and while Tom wasn't much of a fighter, he would also join his oldest boys on missions.

Along with them they had Anthony and Click who had joined Porters group right after the invasion, Dai who joined a few days after the Masons were found, and high school senior Karen Nadler who Hal seemed to be getting close to.

"Alright gather round! Wwe got ourselves a mission!" Weaver commanded. "We're gonna be scouting for and retrieving and food, and medical supplies we can find. Anthony, Dai and Click, you three are with me and we're searching all the stores in-between 49th Street and Main Street. Masons! You three and Karen will be searching the hospitals in-between 49th and Main. Any questions?" Weaver finished. "Alright then since there aren't any questions go load up we leave at dusk!" And with that Weaver left.

"So I guess were on the same team again." Hal said to Karen.

"I guess we are. You wanna be partners?" Karen asked.

"Sure. I wonder if we'll find any survivors?"

"I don't know, but I hope so. The more people we find the better chance we have to get our planet back." And with that they left to get there gun and ammunition.

DUSK

Everyone meet on the outskirts of Porter's base and left for the designated area to begin their search. Little did they know they would run into someone or rather 2 someone's that would become treasured members of the 2nd Mass.

To Be Continued….

**Authors Note: Can anyone guess who they're gonna run into? Again sorry for the really late chapter! Please leave a review! They boost my self-esteem and make my creative juices flow better! And seriously please give me suggestions! I love it! You guys giving me suggestions helps the story come together faster and will help it in ways I might not of even though to go in! So please, please, please give me suggestions! And reviews! Thx! Luv you guys! And I promise I won't abandon this story! If it looks like I might be doing just that PM me. I might of just forgotten to post a new chap or though I already did or something! I will finish this! So anyway! Review and give suggestions! Until next time my fellow Fallers!**


End file.
